Page 102 - My FlipBook

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have been those historic facts, handed down to us, of a third
set appearing in the old age of heaven-favoured mortals
where it could be nothing else than the then matured
second set. Such I have met with, but never any thing like
a third set, at least, which I was convinced was such." It
appears from the foregoing observations, that the permanent
teeth, whilst they are rising in the jaw, have considerable in-
fluence with respect to the wasting of the temporary roots ;
for while they are at rest, the roots of the temporary teeth
are not wasted. However it does not appear to me, that the
wasting of the temporary roots, is in any degree the effect
of mechanical trituration, as Mr. Bunon and other authors
would affirm.
In general, children begin to shed their teeth about six or
seven years of age, and the permanent teeth appear nearly in
the following order. First, the middle incisores of the under
jaw, soon after, those of the upper, then the lateral incisores
of the under jaw, and nearly at the same time the anterior
grinders ; then the lateral incisores of the upper jaw appear,
though some time elapses between their appearance and that
of the former : the anterior bicuspides appear about the ninth
year, the posterior about the tenth or eleventh, and the cuspi-
dati and middle grinders nearly at the same time, that is,
about the twelfth or fourteenth year, and finally, the posterior
grinders or wisdom-teeth from the sixteenth to the twenty-
fifth year. Though Dr. H. remarks, there are many excep-
tions to this general rule, yet I do not think it necessary to
dwell so much on the order or period of their appearance, as
I have done with respect to the temporary.
The anterior permanent grinders frequently appear a con-
siderable time before any of the temporary teeth are shed,
and there are many varieties with respect to the wisdom-
teeth, for in some cases they do not appear until a very late